BJP says Satyendra Jain given five-star resort like facilities inside Tihar jail.
NEW DELHI:: A series of videos that has emerged from Tihar jail showing a sitting minister of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Satyendra Jain enjoying a massage, a lavish meal and a “meeting” with jail superintendent has hit the AAP’s prospect in the soon to be held Municipal Corporation Election (MCD) in Delhi. Several supporters of AAP have also started to question the silence of the AAP and its Chief Minister Kejriwal on the entire incident. Many have also now started to question the motive behind the support to Jain by Kejriwal. “This is impacting the election on ground. Several people are asking us why is Kejriwal, who is against corruption, is supporting someone as corrupt as Jain. We have no answer to give them. These videos are surely going to make an impact on the ground during the elections,” an AAP supporter told The Sunday Guardian. Even common voters around Delhi, from autorickshaw drivers, e-rickshaw drivers who had once formed a very strong vote bank for the AAP in Delhi, have started to raise questions on the AAP stand on corruption and the party’s support for Jain and other corrupt ministers of leaders. The Sunday Guardian over the week spoke to several people in Delhi and almost everyone equivocally said that these videos proved that AAP is nothing, but like any other political party in the country and that they have also become “corrupt”.
On Saturday, a new video was circulating on social media that showed the AAP Minister Satyendra Jain, who is lodged inside the Tihar Jail for his alleged role in the money laundering scam, holding meetings inside his prison cell. The video also showed the jail superintendent of that particular jail sitting with Jain and having a discussion. The CCTV footage does not have any sound, therefore, this newspaper could not verify what the conversation was about.
This same CCTV footage also shows that a couple of other inmates of Tihar Jail were inside the cell of Satyendra Jain having a sort of discussion, but they left the cell when the jail superintendent arrived so that Jain and the jail chief could have a private discussion. “This is a violation of all rules of the jail manual,” the opposition parties in Delhi claimed.
According to the time stamp on the CCTV footage, this video was from 12 September. The Delhi BJP unit has hit back at the AAP and Jain, saying that the Jail Superintendent who was seen with the Minister was “reporting” to him since he was the jail minister of Delhi. The recent video is a series of videos on Jain and his lavish life inside the Tihar prison that has made its way into social media and mainstream media, and is certainly going to have an impact on the prospect of the AAP in the upcoming MCD elections in Delhi. One of the first videos that came out from inside the Tihar Jail showed how lavishly the AAP Minister Jain was living inside the prison. The prison cell in which Jain is lodged is unlike what a prison cell looks like for a common prisoner. Jain has been allotted a personal room inside the prison, with a bed, a mattress, a pillow, a television, mineral water bottles, chairs, and even a black wire which could have been a charger.
The first video came out on 19 November and it not only brought out the “special room” for Jain, but also on how the Cabinet Minister of the AAP government in Delhi was enjoying massages and spa, sometimes on his full body and also at times a special foot and hand massage inside his prison cell.
The AAP was quick to react to these videos alleging that the BJP was “deliberately” releasing these videos ahead of the MCD elections and that the BJP did not have real issues to contest elections and, therefore, taking up “diversionary tactics”. Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister and senior leader of AAP Manish Sisodia said that Jain was getting these massages as part of this physiotherapy.
However, just a day after, Tihar sources confirmed that the person seen giving massage to Jain inside the Tihar Jail was not a physiotherapist, but a rape accused. The masseur was identified as Rinku, who has been lodged inside the same jail under the POCSO (Protection of Child against Sexual Offence) Act.
Another video released on 23 November showed the jailed Minister enjoying a lavish meal inside the jail. The video widely circulated on social media showed jail inmates bringing for him cut salads, fruits and it seemed from the video that Jain was enjoying food from outside and not jail food.
BJP called the treatment meted out to Jain inside the jail as a resort of five-star like facilities. BJP’s spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala said, “After taking maalish from a rapist, and calling him physiotherapist, Satyendra Jain could be seen enjoying a sumptuous meal. Attendants serve him food as if he is in a resort on a vacation.” The BJP also claimed that against the claims of Jain’s lawyers that he has lost 28 kg in jail, Jain has indeed gained 8 kg over the last couple of months.